The arena of dark ambient is one that is all-to-often sonically drenched in the oppressive, devoid almost completely of light or lightheartedness. We here at noisebeneaththesnow.com have always been intrigued by that which goes against the grain so today we bring you a release by North Carolina-based dark ambient artist, Mombi Yuleman: Tasty Humans.

From Bandcamp: “In 1959 an alien species that look very similar to our own flora fauna came to our world and discovered how delicious we taste. While the adult martians consumed us with mouths that flicked prickly tongues, their spawn were often mistaken for fruits and vegetables. Eating their young always resulted in an agonizing death where your eyes filled with blood and you melted from the inside out. With an ever growing appetite they increased in numbers and ultimately became the dominant predator of the planet Earth. The Golden Age came to a grisly end and the Age of Man was no more. Listen to what happened.”

Mombi Yuleman brings us a 10-track release that drifts at times between the feelings modern cinema soundtracks and old, vintage (perhaps forbidden) films. I’d even go so far as to suggest calling some of this material “dungeon ambient.”

In our opinion, one of the reasons this is a successful release is that the track titles accurately reflect what is likely to appear in the listener’s head. For example, paying no attention to titles initially, track 5 actually presents a landscape where it’s not unlikely to imagine a race of aliens within a diminishing human population. So, “An Eryngo Ate My Baby” should not be a surprise when the track is done. A track like this gives listeners a desolate arena and one where an individual is faced with certain loss of communication and human contact.

Imminently barren landscapes, paranoid visions of what last humans remain and stark emotional contrasts even within every shade of gray, black and deep blue. Perhaps even a sense of hope herein if you are willing to step on the side of the aliens.